{"value"=>"<p>Halpern's correspondence reflects the many roles he played within the American literary community: poet, publisher, and anthologist, poetry reading organizer, teacher, contest judge, and travel and food writer. The general correspondence includes responses from magazine, journal, and book editors reacting to Halpern's manuscripts and proposals; correspondence with editors, including Elizabeth Sifton and Alida Becker at Viking, regarding the publication and production of Halpern's collections of poetry and anthologies; requests for recommendations from former students and colleagues; correspondence regarding his service as contest judge; confirmations for reservations at restaurant and hotels he visited for travel and food writing; invitations to readings and parties; correspondence regarding his role as an instructor and academic administrator; correspondence regarding his organization of readings and other poetry programs such as Poetry on the Buses (see also: Topical Files and Series IV. Business and Administrative Files: Literary Conferences etc.); thank-you notes; and fan letters. While this series includes letters sent to Halpern because he was a publisher, any letter relating to the daily operations of the press will be filed with the Ecco Press material. This series is greatly supplemented by the correspondence in Series I. Author Files where the bulk of Halpern's correspondence is located.</p>"}